As I think it happens fairly often, as soon as I had gotten around to accepting that there were clothes I was just never going to fit into again and I had rounded them up and given them to a friend, the motivation suddenly came to me to change my lifestyle. I eat more fast food than I’m even willing to admit here, and once I counted it all up, I realized that I was consuming at least 1000 calories just in Coca-Cola a day. This is not only terrible for your waistline, but disastrous for your health. I’ve been discussing this process some on my other blog, but I’d like to discuss one specific aspect here, and that is wardrobe rebuilding.
According to my Lose It! app, if I stay on track, I’ll be at my goal weight (what I was when I graduated from college and was going to the gym a lot so I could get my PE credit and graduate on time) sometime around my 30th birthday on July 23rd. I wear a size M/L, 8/10 US now, and back then I was an XS/S, size 2/4. So obviously, a lot of what I own is going to be too big. This will necessitate rebuilding the bulk of my wardrobe from the ground up.
Some things, like sweatshirts, will be fine to wear as-is. Other things, like jeans and leggings, I replace on a seasonal basis anyway, so there’s not going to be a real change. Where it’s really going to matter is Levels 2 and 3. I have only two formal dresses, since I don’t dress up all that much. I’ve already worn my more conservative one to pretty much every family function in the past year and a half, so it’s probably time to retire it anyway.
And then there’s Level 2, which I didn’t really have much of in the first place. Working on this level was something I was going to do anyway, so there’s no real difference.
The big one, however, is outerwear. My heavy coat probably should have been replaced this season, since its zipper only works when it feels like and there’s a few tears. I’ll have to see how my other coats fit when the time comes.
Luckily for myself, I’m going into this armed with my workbook. I’ll be posting screenshots here and there of my rebuilding progress, once my weight stabilizes and I can start investing in pieces.
If you have experience with redoing your entire wardrobe, I’d like any advice you have.
Nikki
February 12, 2016 at 8:06 pmI pretty much redid my entire wardrobe over the course of last year (and it really did take a year, because I’m a minimalist and hate spending money on ‘placeholder’ items of any sort– I’d rather just live without it while I save up for the highest quality item I can get).
Though, I think your climate is a lot less temperate than mine, so that may not work for you. I didn’t have the workbook, yet, and haven’t had a chance to go shopping much since I got it, but here’s what I did.
I knew I wanted to be able to mix and match a capsule wardrobe as much as possible, with high contrast, so I made the following spreadsheet and shopped accordingly, putting some money aside so I could snap up any scores:
1 Light, 1 Dark, & 1 Quixotic of each of the following-
Boxy Tee
Fitted Tee
Boxy midriff top
Fitted midriff top
__
Quixotic sweater
Boxy sweater
Fitted sweater
Quixotic skirt
Pencil skirt
Boxy skirt
Quixotic skinnies
Moto skinnies
Skinny Jeans
Boxy shorts
Fitted shorts
ruby
February 13, 2016 at 9:39 amI have taken a somewhat different approach. I have bought most things bar underwear 2nd hand for years, since long before I ever discovered 12 seasons and Kibbe. Because I’m not spending much money it has allowed me to experiment, some things have become firm favourites with plans to seek out more in a similar vein, others have turned out to be mistakes & have gone back to the charity shop after a couple of wears. Now that I have started to get to grips with what works I am starting to make a few bespoke pieces – one unexpected effect of looking at my style has been it has really rekindled my interest in dressmaking.
Nikki
February 13, 2016 at 8:24 pmThat’s really awesome, Ruby! I agree about thrifting, it really does leave someone more open to experimentation. And sometimes, you can get really unique pieces that way!
stylesyntax
February 16, 2016 at 11:27 amI’ve never been a big secondhand shopper myself… I’ve never found a thrift store that has some of the great stuff I see other people get, and it’s hard for me to see clothes out of context, if that makes sense. I need to see them nicely displayed in a store 🙂
stylesyntax
February 16, 2016 at 11:25 amI may have to do something similar when I get to the weight that I think I’ll stay at… What do you mean by “quixotic”?
Sarrah Otto
October 25, 2016 at 5:22 pmI tried “building a wardrobe” in my 20’s. I ended up with a lot of nice clothes, but I had no clue how to put them together. I had an sudden jolt of inspiration one morning at the age of 28, which I promptly jotted down in my composition book “I need outfits, not a wardrobe” of course I do need a wardrobe, and a wardrobe contains all the clothes one owns, but the problem with me at the time was I was too focused on the wrong “big picture” to see the true big picture, which is actually having something nice to wear. Have you looked at the Vivian files? I’m not sure how to spell it, but I’m sure Google will find it for you. She has some great thoughts on this subject. Great blog, by the way!
stylesyntax
October 27, 2016 at 6:08 pmYes, outfits, not a wardrobe! Mix and match is rather a new way of thinking. The new workbook I’m working on for 2017 will focus on this.